Makemysupper

"The way to a man's heart is through his stomach." So very true. Years ago I wanted to impress a guy, so I pulled out my cookbook from Spain, translated every second word with my Spanish-English dictionary, then proceeded to make meatballs and patatas bravas. Six hours, 20 meatballs, and a bucket of sweat and tears later, I presented his dinner.

His heart was mine.

But why such an exhausting effort? Because I didn't have a chef in my kitchen, showing me how it was done. Now, we all do. With makemysupper.com, back then I would have had the dinner done with plenty of time to spare, no sweat. Not that Vancouver-based creator Peter Hrynkow really needs his website. "I'm not much of a cook myself," he admits, "but everybody else in my family loves to cook: my aunt, my Mom, my fiance. So I'm surrounded by people who are an inspiration to me and the site."

At least Hrynkow knows web development. Makemysupper.com has piqued international interest from chefs and media. How has he managed to pull viewers from more established video sites, like Youtube?

"First of all, this website fills a niche. On Youtube, you enter 'cooking' in the search parameters, you could get dozens of videos that have nothing to do with it. On Makemysupper, you're guaranteed to get a video that you want. Also, the search engine looks for ingredients, so it's more effective. The other thing is the community aspect. Everyone on there loves food, cooking, some are 'weekend chefs'. You can meet others who share your interests."

Like the woman who starts off her "Rabbit Risotto" video with the actual hunting of said animal?

Hrynkow laughs. "Yeah, that was definitely one of our weirdest submissions. Not recommended viewing for any vegetarians."

Photo by Parnelli_97 on Flickr.